Bronze bust of a woman

Stern bronze lady with a horned bird

This distinctive bronze bust of a woman is one of the earliest
large-scale Etruscan bronze figures to survive. It was found in the
'Isis Tomb' in the Polledrara cemetery in Etruria. The tomb was
rich in imported luxury goods from Egypt and the Eastern
Mediterranean.

The bust is made of bronze sheet hammered to shape (the
sphyrelaton or hammered technique), like some early Greek
figures. It was made at a time when bronzeworkers were not yet
confident in attempting large cast figures. The right hand and the
bird are cast and added separately. Originally a skirt was
attached, made of horizontal strips of bronze sheet decorated with
animals. Only fragments survive

The horned bird was once thought to identify the figure as the
Egyptian goddess Isis, which is why the tomb is known as the Isis
Tomb. However, it is more likely that the figure represents a
native Italic deity, perhaps a fertility goddess, as she holds one
hand to her breast, like earlier figures from Syria and Asia Minor.
The horned bird was often depicted by the early peoples of Italy
and north of the Alps, and may have had some significance in local
cult worship.